Method of knitting hosiery



1,626,049 April 26 1927 G. MURPHY ET AL METHOD 0F KNITTING HOSIERY FiledNov. 21. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet l April 26 1927 G. MURPHY ET AL IBTHOD 0FKNITTING HOSIERY Filed Nov. 21. 1921 2 Sheets-$116817 2 gzZ.

Patented pr. 26, 1927.

UNTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GILBERT MURPHY AND WALTER A. SIMONE, OF FRANKLIN, NEW' HALIISHIRE, AS-

SIGNOBS TO ACME KNIITING MACHINE 6a NEEDLE COMPANY, OF FRANKLIN, NEWHAMPSHIRE, A CORPORATION OF NEW HAMSI-IIRE.

METHOD OF KNITTING HOSIERY.

Application led November 21, 1921.

ln knitting certain styles of hosiery, more particularly that known assport hosiery, it is customory to rib the leg and instep and to knit thebottom of the foot plain. The advantage of this arrangement is that theplain knit fabric is more comfortable to the bottom of the foot than aribbed fabric would be, while the presence of the ribbed fabric in theinstep portion of the foot affords additional elasticity in this part ofthe stocking.

It is the general object of the present invent-ion to improve thestructure of hosiery of this character and also the method ot' knittingit, with a view especially to producing both a more comfortable stockingand also reducing the manufacturing cost. The invention aimsparticularly to increase the elasticity of the ribbed instep portion ofa stocking, and also to facilitate the looping or seaming of the toeportion of the stocking.

The nature of the invention will be readily understood from thefollowing de- 3-3, Fig. 2, showing diagrammatically the nature of thefabric.

rlhe stocking shown in the drawings can be knit either by hand or bymachinery, but inasmuch as practically all hosiery is now produced bymachinery, the present process will first be described as it wouldpreferably be practiced by hosiery knitting machines. A great variety ofmachines could be used in carrying out this process, but we prefer touse the machine shown and described in our pending application SerialNo. 460,957, filed April 13, 1921. This application shows and describesan automatic hosiery knitting machine in which either plain or ribbedfabric may be knit, as desired, and

Serial No. 516,563.

in which the knitting operation may be changed either automatically orat will from one style of knitting to the other.

The knitting operation may be started at either end of the stocking.Assuming, however, that it is started at the toe, several courses ofplain circular fabric are first knit, and the narrowing and wideningoperations are next performed to form the toe pocket 2 by reciprocatingknitting in the usual manner. Circular knitting is then resumed forseveral courses, the plain fabric still being produced. Up to this timeall the knitting has been performed on the cylinder needles, butapproximately onehalf thc dial needles are now brought into action,either by hand or by automatic mechanism, these needles being located atthe side of the machine where the instep portion and the front of theleg of the stock` ing are formed. The dial and cylinder needles,therefore, cooperate to produce a ribbed fabric 3 in the upper half ofthe foot, while the needles in the other half of the cylinder continueto knit a plain fabric which forms the bottom t of the foot. The ribbingoperation is begun approximately on the line 5, Fig. l, which is severalcourses back of the course indicated by the line G on which the toeportion of the stocking later will be seamed or looped in the usualmanner.

The knitting operation is continued in the manner just described untilthe region indicated by the line 7, Fig. 1, is reached, when thenarrowing and widening operations are again repeated to form the heelpocket or pouch 8 by reciprocating knitting.

The operations previously described are resumed after the heel has beencompleted until the desired length of plain fabric has been knit abovethe heel pocket and the point is reached at which itis desired to havethe ribbed fabric extend entirely around the leg. This point isindicated in Fig. l at 9. At this time the needles in the other half ofthe dial, which up to this point have been inactive, are brought intooperation to cooperate with the cylinder needles and form a ribbedfabric in the back of the leg. A. ribbed fabric now is formed around theentire leg portion of the stocking and the ribbing operation iscontinued until a leg of the required length has Cil is te beenproduced. At this time the top of the leg may be welted in the usualinanner or marked with loose courses for the purpose of facilitating thesevering of the stocke ing. The dial needles are then thrown out ofaction, and the kniting of the plain fabric in front of the toe portionof the nez-:t stocking is begun. These operations are repeated, thusforming a string of connected stockings, which string later is severedat the welt or loose courses to forni individual stockings. The plaintoe portion of eachv individual stocking is then looped or seained onthe line 6, Fig. l, in the well known manner. lt will be obvious tothose skilled in this art that during this operation the section ofcircular knit fabric in front of the line G, Fig. l, is triinined oli'or ravelled out, and that the seaining or looping operation joins thefree edge of the toe pocket 2 to the forward edge of the upper part ofthe plain section of circular fabric between the lines 5 and 6, as shownin Fig. 2.

lt has been customary heretofore in knitting stockings of this generaltyp-e to continue the ribbing operation throughout the upper part of thefoot, the ribbing needles in the part of the inachine producing thishalf of the stocking always being in operation. This has required thelooping of a plain fabric to 'a ribbed fabric, which is dithcult andrequires special care and skill. By terminatingthe ribbing in the instepof the stocking, however, at a point behind the line G, Fig. l, on whichthe looping operation is to be performed, and knitting a plain fabricfor a few courses back of this line, the looping or seaining operationat the toe portion of the stocking is greatly facilitated, since it ismerely necessary to join together the loops of two plain knit sectionsof fabric. lt is niuch easier for the operator to plac the loops ofplain fabric on the points of the looping or sefaining machin-e than toperform this operation with a ribbed fabric. Not only is this operationfacilitated, but the seam fornied is thinner than the seam produced byjoining a plain fabric to a ribbed fabric, and consequently, a inorccomfortable stocking` is produced. Many persons lind the ordinary lineof seainingg,` objectionable, and the reduction in the thickness of theseam which is effected by this invention substantially improves thisportion of the stocking from the standpoint of comfort.

A further feature in which the present stocking is unique is in having agreater number of stitches per unit of distance circuinferentially ofthe stocking throughout the ribbed portion than in the plain portion ofthe foot. That is, the ribbed fabric 8 has a. greater nuniber ofstitches per inch circuniferentially thereof than does the plain fabricLeashes 4. This is best illustrated in Fig. 3, from which it will beseen that the ribbed fabric contains fifty percent more stitches perinch than does the plain fabric. According' to all the prior processesof making stockings of this character of which we have been able tolearn, the saine number of stitches have been used in the ribbed portionof the fabric as in the plain portion, the ribbin T being produced bytransferring needles rroin the cyl inder to the dial or lo anothercylinder. The present process has the advantage, therefore, ofproducinga far more elastic ribbed instep than has been produced byprior processes.

ln changing` frorn plain knitting to ribbing at the courses 5 and 9 wepreferably knit two courses Without allowing the dial needles to cast odtheir stitches or loops. rlhis fornis tucked courses at the junction between the two styles of knitting which serve to reduce 'Very materiallythe sizes of the holes or eyelets l2 that are fornied by the change fromone style of knitting lo the other.

The process of knitting the stocking by hand will be clear from theabove description. lt will also be understood that while we prefer tobegin the knitting of the stocking at the toe, as above described, it isentirely possible to begin the knitting operation at the opposite end otthe stocking, although this procedure is not as convenient in niittingstockings'by machinery since it is necessary to transfer stitches orloops when the nuinber of needles is reduced in changing froni ribbing'to plain knitting.

l-laving thus described our invention, what we desire to claiin as newis:

That iinproveinent in the art of knitting' seamless stockings whichconsists in inanipu lating a circular series of needle and a thread toknit short section of plain tubular fabric, nent knitting a plain toepocket on a portion of said needles, then knitting a short section ofplain circular fabric irnniediately behind said toepocket on all of saidneedles, then introducing an additional set of needles to cooperate withapproximately half of the needles of said circular series to knit aribbed fabric in the upper part of the foot of the stocking while theremaining needles of said series knit a. plain fabric in the lower partof said foot, next knitting a heel pocket, then knitting the leg of thestocking, and, at any desired point in the knit-ting of the leg,introducing another set of needles to cooperate with all the needlesformerly in operation to knit a circular ribbed legl fabric. l

ln testimony whereof we have hereunto signed our naines to thisspecification.

GILBERT MURPHY. WALTER A. SMOND.

